‘How was your trip to Spain by the way?’ she says.
‘I haven’t seen you since you got back.’
‘Amazing. We had such good fun. A few sore heads, of course. . .’
‘I’d expect nothing less,’ she grins, taking a sip of her coffee.
When it’s time to leave, I pay the bill and thank the waiter before I stand to help Terri with her coat.
‘Well, that was nice but I think I preferred the old place,’
I whisper.
She pauses and looks at me doubtfully. ‘No.Really?’
‘Yes,’ I shrug. ‘I thought it was charming.’
‘I thought it was tatty,’ she says, which makes me chuckle.
‘Maybea bit.’
‘Things do have to move on,’ she says.
‘True,’ I say, but then we fall silent as her words seem to hover in the air, with more meaning than I suspect she intended.
‘I must say, I was surprised when I heard you were coming back here,’ she says, eventually, a coaxing tone in her voice. ‘I always got the impression you were happy in Manchester.’
‘I have been,’ I shrug. ‘But I need to move for work. It’s all happening now, anyway. I’m waiting for a call from the solicitor today to say contracts have been exchanged. There’s no going back then.’
She pauses for a moment as if considering her next words carefully. ‘I hope you don’t mind me asking this, darling, but . . . have you never met anyone else?’
My mouth parts, guppy-like. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, I just wondered if you’ve ever got yourself a nice boyfriend?’
Others might have asked this repeatedly over the last few years. But not Terri. I never expected it from her.
She shakes her head and puts her hand on my arm. ‘You don’t need to answer that if you don’t want to.’
‘Has somebody said something to you?’
She doesn’t answer the question. Instead, she picks up my hand and looks me directly in the eye.
‘All I want you to know,’ she begins with a slow, gentle voice, ‘is that if you have met someone, or even if you do in the future, then you have my complete blessing.’
There is a glaze on her eyes now. Just the sight of it makes my throat burn.
I squeeze her hand. ‘Terri. I’m sorry, I—’
‘You have nothing to be sorry about, Jules,’ she scolds me gently. ‘That’s exactly the point I’m making. Like I say, you have my blessing.’
A smile pushes through behind the tears now. ‘And Iknowyou would have Edward’s too.’
Chapter 58
I’m stepping on the train to Roebury several hours later when I get a call from my solicitor, who confirms that contracts were exchanged on the houses an hour ago.
So that’s it now. It’s legally binding. The only thing left to do is vacate the property and make way for the new owners in just over two weeks’ time.
